Surprise! 10 Reasons Why Live Online Training Beats InPerson

If you think doing online training doesn’t work…you're missing out! I’m not talking about watching a pre-recorded video, I’m talking about live, instructor lead, interactive training. I’ve done it for 8 years and many of our clients already know how good it is (read our post on our comparison of over 5,000 livecast vs in-room sessions). Here are 10 things you haven’t considered that make live, instructor led online training BETTER than being in a classroom.

1. No travel time- Commute time is limited to moving the curser to the ‘join’ button. Tons of time is saved on this one alone.
2. Higher retention- Higher frequency, shorter duration leads to high retention. Eight 1 hour sessions gets more retention than one 8 hour session. Imagine going to the gym and working out for 24 straight hours…crazy! What if you worked out once a day, every day for 24 days? Results!
3. Increased contribution- When in room only one person can share a thought at a time. When online the chat stream allows everyone to share their thoughts. This is HUGE and gets more engagement if done right.
4. Introverts get involved (comfortably) – While some people are less likely to speak out in a group, everyone is comfortable with chat box.
5. No travel costs- No cost for hotels, airfare and bar tabs (that’s kind of a bummer).
6. No getting the cold (or worse) after being on an airplane.
7. Breakouts Rock!- Virtual breakout rooms are superb!
8. More personal- As a facilitator of 25 people in a room I can’t see everyone’s face simultaneously. On a livecast, I can! That means if someone’s non-verbal’s show me they have a genius attack, I can ask them to share. I missed so many light-bulb moments people had with in-person training.
9. Faster rollouts- If you have to coordinate the schedules of dozens of people to be in the same physical place it can takes weeks to find an acceptable date for everyone. Live, instructor led training can happen quicker as coordinating schedules is easier.
10. Greater Focus!- Yes, you heard it. Greater focus. I’ve been leading groups online for over 7 years and I hear over and over that people focus more when the camera is on and pointing at them. If the camera is off…all bets are off.

By the way, bad teachers don’t get better online. We’ve got it down. Reach out to us if you’d like to experience it or learn more. Reach out at salesengine@sandler.com

Mark McGraw